Amnesty International reminded politicians that Belarus is dictatorship

Amnesty International has made a statement related to the upcoming presidential election in Belarus, saying that the Belarusian authorities continue to violate human rights.

“The human rights of people in Belarus are routinely abused by the state. Freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest are not respected. Human rights defenders are harassed,” Amnesty international UK Director Kate Allen said. “We have serious concerns about unfair trials and the use of torture in detention. This is all the more worrying because Belarus is the only country in Europe still to retain the death penalty.” Human rights activists call the country “Europe’s last executioner.”

The British branch of Amnesty International believes that the authorities continue to violate the right to freedom of assembly by not permitting demonstrations and public actions. Human rights activists remind that excessive force has been used to disperse non-violent demonstrations, and peaceful demonstrators have been detained, BelaPAN reports.

According to the British human rights activists, Belarus retains many repressive features of the Soviet criminal justice system. Judges routinely do not exercise their authority to independently and impartially decide on the legality of an arrest or detention nor the need for continued detention.